Being Fat isn't Phat; It's real.

When dove target's women of lower self-esteem, they do more than just degrade them and their mentality. In fact, they take young women to the lowest of lows so all the energy they have left is used reaching for the remote to change the channel when the commercial changes tone. Now instead of a degrading tone, it is one of reassurance. It is forged of pure sincerity. With this sympathetic outreach to the freshly wounded women, they are able to draw their attention to their products that can make amends to their previously gross, atrocious habits. Instead of being fat, they can be beautiful. Not just in their own eyes, but in the eyes of everyone. Orbach approaches the response to the ad with all of this in mind. Not only does her response appeal to the people curious of her response, but she makes it broad enough to where even the average woman, critic or standard civilian can read and connect to her words. I agree with Orbach on many of her points involving Dove, however, her most powerful points were the ones that drew a generic outlook from the wrongdoing of Dove's advertisements. She wasn't just responding on what she had seen, she was responding on what she felt and believed. That is where the strength lies in her argument, but it grows with her ability to appeal to all audiences.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.

Youtube vs Eyetube

Although the blog today was supposed to analyze multiple essays, I personally found that the short essay by Strangelove was concise yet true on many levels. Strangelove notes that watching goofy and seemingly redundant videos on the famous website "youtube" is not a shameful, time-wasting act. As Strangelove states, we see ourselves in the videos we decide to watch. Our natural instinct in both finding humor and humility is to find something we can relate to. Whether we watch a kid get sedated at a dentist's office and wonder "was I like that?" or watch a heavy-set woman fall from a table and think "oh man, that is embarrassing." we notice either our own actions or those similar to them being displayed in front of our eyes. The ties to this easily accessed media are unbelievable. Such a simple concept, yet it can appeal to everyone. It doesn't matter if you are in the mood for a laugh, a political recap over a speech or even the highlight reel from a football game, Youtube has become a phenomenon amongst all internet trends. How it made it was mass appeal and how it continues is just as simple. Strangelove is dead on when he says we can relate to these videos and he is dead on when he states it is an act with no shame involved. It just goes to show how any media can flourish with the right connection to it's viewers and we have to right our papers in the same light. We as students need to appeal to our audience. We must convince them beyond shadow-of-a-doubt that they can relate with what we are saying. This is the lock and our pens are the keys. We just need to find the one that fits perfectly.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.

Photographs: How wide is too wide of a lens?

You are already being verbally dragged into the family car by your parents, what else could go wrong? The moment that thought crosses your mind, your mom turns and looks you in the eyes. No matter which way you move, you can't escape her gaze. Take a picture. At this moment, you know what is coming. "Just force a smile" she says. "We are just going to make sure your grandmother is stocked up on groceries this week." You know that is code for "We will be there a few hours, but please just smile for your grandmother."

Ten years later you are riding in the new family car. This time you were ready. You had everything ready to go. Your emotions, your attire and most of all, your smile. As you arrive to the site of the funeral you remember each mental snapshot, but you remember one in particular. This mental picture wasn't the brightest, but it spoke the loudest. You having lived the picture know the surrounding area of the photo. Going to grandmother's was a dull experience to begin with but you always enjoyed hearing her stories whether or not you wanted to admit it. Then, you frowned but now you look back and smile. Take a picture. This time, with the lens wide open. The dark setting of the funeral home is now offset by your vibrant smile formed by looking at the picture.

If a third party were to view both mental photos in a large framed picture, they may not understand the scenario. Narrowing the lens isn't always the best way to fine tune a situation. In the first picture, all you see is a disappointed child. The scenario looks sad. Combined with the second picture, however, the lens in opened up. Everything makes sense. A once small child is now grown and appreciating the world around them. In the reading, it is made clear that pictures aren't always supposed to capture happy times, but instead, should be used to capture reality. No one wants to have a blindfold on at all times. No one wants to live a fake life. The pictures on the wall may say "happy family" when the lives around the picture are all about a father losing a job or a mother fighting sickness. In relation to the story above, it isn't always a bad thing to capture reality. We as people can look back and learn, appreciate and respect what we have in life.

This is CJ Perkins, and I approve this publishing.

Smokey the Kind vs Smokey the Vengeful

We all know what happens when we are going camping with the family over the upcoming weekend, Smokey the Bear appears all over our television screens to remind us to be cautious. Whether or not we pay attention to this ad doesn't matter much when our small camp fire bursts into a raging inferno that spreads faster than the thought of Smokey the Bear appearing at your side to say "I told you so." How Smokey dishes out these consequences is not as clear as his original message which leaves imagination to fill in the gaps.

Shown above is a twisted version of a Smokey the Bear ad. This may have come from the mind of some paranoid teenager that accidentally started a fire once, or it comes from the mind of an ad artist trying to appeal to the emotions of a viewer. Two major emotions can truly be deriven from the ad itself, the first of which can be noted as sympathy. The viewer may see this as an equivalent punishment due to the forest being Smokey's home. This would probably be the typical reaction if Smokey were not put into a violent twist of a character. The sympathetic emotion comes from Smokey's original character, the caring one. With the twist of credibility, noting the viewer's original take on Smokey's image, the emotion coming from the ad is a vengeful one. A once sympathetic viewer now see's Smokey as a type of mercenary. He no longer asks politely but instead decides to take matters into his own hands. With the cigar lit and gasoline container in hand, Smokey now walks a way with a more content state of mind when he would normally walk away in disappointment from a burning forest. Although the ad is slightly humorous, it speaks with a sense of reality while appealing to the emotions (pathos) of the reader and the credibility (ethos) of Smokey the Bear.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publishing.

Editorial Cartoons: Funny or Serious? Or Seriously funny?

Many times in a government based class, a teacher will present a cartoon. The cartoon has familiar faces and familiar places, however, some aspects of the cartoon seem foreign. While one can't help but laugh at the skewed and sometimes bulbous depictions of out country's leaders, when we read the text underlining the cartoon, unique thoughts fill every individual's mind. For example, when analyzing a cartoon of a snail racing to put out the fuse of a bomb, no immediate reactions come through our mind. When introduced with names, things tend to make a little more sense. Written on the snail is the word "Congress" and written on the bomb are the words "Tax Cuts Expire Dec 31." Above the snail, a thought bubble appears that ties the entire situation together. "Now for my famous burst of speed." emits from the snail's thoughts and the time to decide on an emotion has come. Whether or not we decide to chuckle or fully bellow out a bold laugh tells how serious we take this comic. Sure, everyone knows Congress is much like a snail in the fact they take forever to act. The main point of perception, however, comes from the word "famous." Does Congress actually know how slow it is yet places the sarcastic "famous burst of speed" into their arsenal of reassurance? Is Congress in such an arrogant, oblivious state that they fail to recognize their people's true outlook on their speed? Either way, the fact of Congress being notoriously slow brings a grin to any reader's face. I personally love the brutal statements that are made within editorials because they are practically visual euphemisms, yet no one argues the fact.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publication

Attached is the URL to the cartoon I analyzed.
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/gfo/lowres/gfon637l.jpg

Daily Examples of Rhetoric

Everyday students like myself are influenced on many levels. How we see each piece of persuasion or if we see it at all really doesn't come to mind often, yet it plays a huge role in daily decisions. Being a college student at a major university, I feel as though I have a larger list of things that can affect my choices. For example, the 2012 election campaigns have started swiftly this year and are being displayed in many different forms. Of course campaigns are intended to make us think about the election decision, but when I see certain claims being made about different pieces of our society, I tend to look in retrospect to analyze my own decisions. This appeal to the logos portion of rhetoric persuasion is abundant, yet rarely recognized. I myself seem to be most vulnerable to ads or pieces pertaining to the ethos portion of rhetoric. Since I grew up in a small town where hospitality reigned and moral values were heavily taught, I sincerely care about the actions and feeling of the people around me. When I see an ad of how a certain activity is affecting others, I tend to react on a personal level. The fact that I was always taught how to respect other's emotions and reactions makes me more vulnerable to these styles of persuasion. It doesn't necessarily change my outlook completely but it may alter a particular way I respond to a situation. Long story short, rhetoric studies are in use all around us but it just takes a little extra motivation to notice it.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publishing.